The Boulder County Health Department has contracted with Colorado Mosquito Control Inc. (CMC), for the past eight years in an effort to control mosquito populations in Boulder County. Working within the Boulder County Mosquito Control District, the primary purpose has been to reduce public exposure to, and risks of, mosquito-borne diseases, particularly the various forms of encephalitis that appear in Colorado. CMC also responds to nuisance complaints from individuals within the Mosquito Control District.
It has come to the attention of the Boulder County Mosquito Control Citizen's Advisory Board (BCMCCAB) that mosquito spraying or adulticiding can impact bees and beehives. We are fortunate to contract with a business such as CMC that focuses most of its efforts on larval control and other non-chemical control measures before adulticiding. When CMC does spray, it uses one of the least toxic chemicals available commercially, utilizing very low volumes in a mist form.
As members of the Mosquito Control Citizen's Advisory Board, we are aware that these products kill bees when applied directly to them. While residual effects have been minimized to a significant degree, there are still questions regarding long-term effects from direct exposure.
Additionally, the arrival of West Nile Virus in Colorado may necessitate the need to expand mosquito control, including the use of adulticides outside of the Mosquito Control District in Boulder County, should an imminent public health threat be declared by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment of Boulder County Health Department.
The Boulder County Mosquito Control Citizen's Advisory Board and Boulder County Health Department, in conjunction with CMC, recommend that all interested and concerned beekeepers in Boulder County contact Colorado Mosquito Control at 303-466-4515 to register their names, phone/contact numbers, and beehive/colony locations within Boulder County if they wish to be excluded from and or notified about future mosquito spraying adjacent to or within reasonable proximity of their hives. A "no-spray" or "spraying buffer" zone of 150 feet is maintained around registered beehives. Registered beehive owners will be notified when spraying will occur within one mile of a designated beehive. CMC already has a working GPS map of some Boulder County hive locations, so your registration will ensure that you are on the map and that you will be notified when spraying occurs near your beehives/colones.
Beekeepers who don't wish to list the actual location of their hives (or the fact that they are beekeepers), but would like to be included on the notification or no-spray list, may call CMC and give just their name, address, and contact number. This will ensure that you are placed on the notification list, much like the other residents of the Mosquito Control District who request this service. Please keep in mind, however, that this arrangement will not ensure the safety of outlying hives away from your residence.
We hope that all beekeepers in Boulder County concerned about the welfare of their hives will avail themselves of this opportunity to be included on CMC's no-spray map. If you have further questions regarding this letter or experience problems with mosquito spraying around your beehives/colonies, please contact Joseph Malinowski of the Boulder County Health Department at 303-441-1197 who will forward your comments to the BCMCCAB.
Sincerely,
Boulder County Mosquito Control Citizen's Advisory Board
John Gerstle, Gary Matthews
Ron Richter, Catherine Sobanski
Allen Summers, Barbra Weidlein
To be included on the GPS map and/or Spray Notification List, contact:
Colorado Mosquito Control at 303-466-4515
Fax: 303-466-1522 Email: comosq@aol.com
